Tag: chung sung-jun

Five U.S. Marines were missing after two Marine Corps aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan on Thursday, in what U.S. officials said may have been a refueling exercise gone wrong. A series of emergency landings and parts falling from U.S. military aircraft have highlighted safety concerns. The Marine Corps said in a statement the incident occurred around 2 a.m. local time in Japan (1700 GMT Wednesday) about 200 miles off the Japanese coast. The two aircraft

Five U.S. Marines were missing after two Marine Corps aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan on Thursday, in what U.S. officials said may have been a refueling exercise gone wrong.

Japan’s defense ministry said its maritime forces had so far found two of the seven Marines who were aboard the aircraft — an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet and KC-130 Hercules — at the time of the incident.

One was in a stable condition at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, while the second had been found about 10 hours after the collision and brought aboard a Japanese military vessel, the ministry said. No other details about the second Marine were known, a ministry spokesman said.

Search and rescue efforts for the remaining five continued.

The incident adds to a growing list of U.S. military aviation accidents around the world in recent years, prompting hearings in Congress to address the rise.

The Military Times reported earlier this year that aviation accidents jumped nearly 40 percent from fiscal years 2013 to 2017. At least 133 service members were killed in those incidents, it said.

U.S. military accidents are a sensitive topic in Japan, particularly for residents of the southern prefecture of Okinawa, which is home to the bulk of the U.S. presence in the country. A series of emergency landings and parts falling from U.S. military aircraft have highlighted safety concerns.

“The incident is regrettable, but our focus at the moment is on search and rescue,” Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told a news conference. “Japan will respond appropriately once the details of the incident are uncovered.”

The Marine Corps said in a statement the incident occurred around 2 a.m. local time in Japan (1700 GMT Wednesday) about 200 miles off the Japanese coast.

The two aircraft had launched from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and were conducting regular training when there was a “mishap,” the Marine Corps said.

The Marine Corps did not elaborate on the nature of the incident. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it occurred during a refueling exercise.

Officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity were unsure precisely how the mishap occurred but none suspected foul play. An investigation has begun.

South Korea’s desire to engage and unify with its reclusive northern neighbor appears to be clashing with Washington’s goal of eliminating nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula. As the two Koreas make steady progress toward reconciliation — a South Korean train on Friday traveled across the border into the North for the first time in a decade — there are mounting concerns that peace efforts may overshadow the denuclearization of North Korea. From joint railway projects to sporting exchanges, S

South Korea’s desire to engage and unify with its reclusive northern neighbor appears to be clashing with Washington’s goal of eliminating nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula.

As the two Koreas make steady progress toward reconciliation — a South Korean train on Friday traveled across the border into the North for the first time in a decade — there are mounting concerns that peace efforts may overshadow the denuclearization of North Korea.

“We have made clear to the Republic of Korea that we do want to make sure that peace on the peninsula and the denuclearization of North Korea aren’t lagging behind the increase in the amount of inter-relationship between the two Koreas,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in November.

From joint railway projects to sporting exchanges, South Korean President Moon Jae-In’s government is looking to spend hundreds of millions on economic and cultural initiatives with Pyongyang to promote integration and reunification. So far, the two countries have agreed to reinstate a joint military commission, develop mechanisms for family reunions and even pursue a joint bid to co-host the 2032 Olympics.

In Washington, many are now comparing the rapid pace of warming inter-Korea relations with the slow progress of denuclearization.

Moon has replaced chief presidential policy aide Jang Ha-sung and finance minister Kim Dong-yeon, the two most senior policymakers in charge of running Asia’s fourth-largest economy, the presidential office announced. Presidential social policy aide Kim Soo-hyun will succeed Jang and veteran bureaucrat Hong Nam-ki, currently head of the government policy co-ordination office, will be the new finance minister, the presidential office said. The incoming chief presidential policy aide has been behi

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has fired both his top economic policymakers and replaced them with people already in the government, his office said on Friday, a move widely seen as intended to reinforce his controversial policies.

It was a bigger reshuffle than expected, but the appointment of their successors from within the government indicated President Moon would reinforce his economic policies, which economists have said were hurting growth.

Presidential social policy aide Kim Soo-hyun will succeed Jang and veteran bureaucrat Hong Nam-ki, currently head of the government policy co-ordination office, will be the new finance minister, the presidential office said.

The incoming chief presidential policy aide has been behind harsh regulatory measures aimed at curbing housing prices, which many analysts have said were against market principles.

The incoming finance minister has served at various government departments such as the finance ministry and the presidential office. He is still required to appear at a parliamentary verification hearing although approval there is not mandatory.

The high-profile appointments came amid criticism that Moon’s signature policies such as big minimum wage increases and a shorter work week had backfired, with lower income earners — the intended beneficiaries – feeling the most pain as employers cut back hiring.

South Korea’s minimum wages are set to be raised by nearly 30 percent over two years and the work week has been cut by almost a quarter for big companies, but initial outcomes have been a plunge in employment rates and lower incomes.

The outgoing finance minister, who has served since June last year as Moon’s first top economic policy planner, has repeatedly clashed with Jang by calling for some adjustment of the president’s ‘income-led growth’ strategy.

The economy saw growth in the July-September quarter holding steady from the previous quarter at 0.6 percent, but missing the market expectations as construction spending plunged by the most in two decades.

Private consumption held up on increased welfare support but a sharp cut in infrastructure spending and strong controls on property transactions clouded the outlook at a time when the global demand for South Korea’s exports is cooling.

The world’s wealthiest families plan to allocate more money to private equity after the asset class helped drive an average 15.5 percent rise in the value of their investments in 2017, according to a survey. For 2018, the family offices expected their direct venture capital and private equity investments to deliver the best returns, of 13 percent, followed by private equity funds, at 11 percent, and direct real estate investments, at 8.4 percent. “This reflects the bull market, as well as family

The world’s wealthiest families plan to allocate more money to private equity after the asset class helped drive an average 15.5 percent rise in the value of their investments in 2017, according to a survey.

Some 311 family offices — set up to manage the wealth of one or more rich families — took part in the survey, conducted by Swiss bank UBS, whose wealth management arm manages around $2.5 trillion in assets, and Campden Wealth.

The strong gains in 2017 followed an average return of 7 percent in 2016 and were driven by developed and developing market listed equities, which returned 23 percent and 38 percent, respectively, and private equity, which returned 18 percent, the survey showed.

For 2018, the family offices expected their direct venture capital and private equity investments to deliver the best returns, of 13 percent, followed by private equity funds, at 11 percent, and direct real estate investments, at 8.4 percent.

“Family offices have delivered their strongest returns since we began measuring their performance five years ago,” Sara Ferrari, head of UBS’ Global Family Office Group, said.

“This reflects the bull market, as well as family offices’ ability to take a long-term approach and embrace illiquidity.”

Private equity investments typically involve locking money up in a venture for many years, as opposed to listed equity markets which can be sold quickly.

The average portfolio, worth $808 million, was allocated 28 percent to listed equities, including 6 percent in developing markets. Sixteen percent was in fixed income, with 46 percent in so-called ‘alternatives’ like private equity and real estate.

A further 3.3 percent was in commodities, while 7 percent was in cash, the survey showed.

Allocations to hedge funds, however, continued to be trimmed and represent just 5.6 percent of the average portfolio after several years of weak average performance and high fees relative to those run by traditional asset managers.

The favorite style of hedge fund for those who did invest was long-short equity, which can bet on both rising and falling share prices, at 19 percent. Global Macro, which bets on macroeconomic trends, was second most popular, at 13 percent.

North Korea has agreed to “permanently” abolish its key missile facilities in the presence of foreign experts, and is willing to close its main nuclear complex if the United States takes reciprocal action, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday. Speaking at a joint news conference following their summit talks in Pyongyang, Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said they agreed to turn the Korean peninsula into a “land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats.” Kim s

North Korea has agreed to “permanently” abolish its key missile facilities in the presence of foreign experts, and is willing to close its main nuclear complex if the United States takes reciprocal action, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference following their summit talks in Pyongyang, Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said they agreed to turn the Korean peninsula into a “land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats.”

Kim said he will visit Seoul in the near future, in what would be the first-ever visit to the South’s capital by a North Korean leader.

The latest summit will be a litmus test for stalled negotiations on the North’s nuclear program between Pyongyang and Washington, and for another meeting Kim recently proposed to U.S. President Donald Trump following their historic encounter in June in Singapore.

Since Americans were barred from traveling to North Korea last year, an academic at one of Pyongyang’s top schools hasn’t been able to return to his job. U.S. citizen Chan-Mo Park, who was born in South Korea, is the chancellor of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST). “Eventually, with more bilateral meetings with the United States and North Korea, I hope they relax regulations,” he said. The travel ban was introduced after American student Otto Warmbier died following his relea

Since Americans were barred from traveling to North Korea last year, an academic at one of Pyongyang’s top schools hasn’t been able to return to his job.

U.S. citizen Chan-Mo Park, who was born in South Korea, is the chancellor of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST). He has been working with the privately funded school since 2000, but could not travel back to the reclusive country after Washington issued travel restrictions for Americans in September 2017.

But Park expressed optimism in a Wednesday interview with CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore that relations between the world’s largest economy and the isolated state could improve.

Recent meetings between the two Koreas, as well as President Donald Trump’s historic face-to-face summit with North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, indicate “a big improvement in reconciliation,” the academic said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

“Eventually, with more bilateral meetings with the United States and North Korea, I hope they relax regulations,” he said.

The travel ban was introduced after American student Otto Warmbier died following his release from a North Korean prison. Park said that while he understood the safety concerns behind the U.S. State Department’s decision, he felt “so safe” during his 17 years in the North.

PUST conducts classes in English and many of its lecturers are foreigners. But, unlike other educational institutes, PUST enjoys access to the internet, Park said.

Students are keen to learn about the outside world, he said.

“We are trying very hard to make students globalized, so, eventually, they will globalize their country,” he added.

The separated families are victims of a decades-long standoff between the neighbors, which has escalated over the past several years as Pyongyang rapidly advanced its nuclear weapons and missile programs. More than 57,000 South Korean survivors have registered for a brief family reunion, which lasts only 11 hours and often ends in painful farewells. For years, Seoul has been calling for regular meetings between separated families including using video conferences, but the reunion programs often

Some 180 families torn apart by the 1950-53 Korean War will be temporarily reunited in North Korea starting Monday after the two Koreas renewed exchanges this year following a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

The reunions, the first in three years, will take place in the North’s tourist resort on Mount Kumgang, as agreed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in during their first summit in April.

The separated families are victims of a decades-long standoff between the neighbors, which has escalated over the past several years as Pyongyang rapidly advanced its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

More than 57,000 South Korean survivors have registered for a brief family reunion, which lasts only 11 hours and often ends in painful farewells.

“I’m over 90 so I don’t know when I am going to die. I am very glad that I have been selected this time, I’m walking on air now,” 91-year-old Moon Hyun-sook told Reuters on Sunday, a day before meeting her younger sisters in North Korea.

For years, Seoul has been calling for regular meetings between separated families including using video conferences, but the reunion programs often fell victim to fragile relations with Pyongyang.

During his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in June, Kim pledged to abandon his country’s nuclear programs if Washington provided security guarantees, but the two sides have since struggled to agree on how to reach that goal.

South Korean family members arrived at the coastal border city of Sokcho on Sunday to be briefed by officials on the reunion and for a brief health check-up, before crossing the border on Monday.

Ninety-three families from both sides of the border were initially scheduled for a three-day gathering from Monday, but four South Korean members canceled their trip to the North at the last minute due to health conditions, the Red Cross said.

Starting Thursday, there will be a meeting of another 88 groups of relatives, according to Seoul’s Unification Ministry.

The brief family reunions, which began in 1985, can be a traumatic experience for the aging survivors, they say. And time is running out, with many of them aged 80 or older.

Around 132,600 individuals are listed as separated families as of end-July. Of the 57,000 survivors, 41.2 percent are in their 80s and 21.4 percent are in their 90s, according to government data.

The oldest South Korean participating in the latest gathering is 101 years old.

“Most participants are elderly and many of them are suffering from hypertension, diabetes and have underlying medical conditions. Ahead of the reunions, we are thoroughly checking their health conditions so that they can attend the events as planned,” said physician Han Sang-jo.

Many of the family members brought gifts for their North Korean relatives. Socks, underwear, basic winter jackets, medicine, toothpastes and food are the most common items, with gifts deemed too extravagant unlikely to pass muster with Pyongyang authorities.

“I’ve prepared for him some household medicine including digester and headache pills, nutritional supplements as well as some daily necessaries,” said Lee Soo-nam, a 76-year-old South Korean, due to meet his older brother in the North separated by the war.

“He is very old so I really want to express my gratitude for being alive for a long time.”

South Korea and the United States are expected to announce the suspension of “large-scale” military drills this week, with the provision that they would restart if North Korea failed to keep its promise to denuclearize, news agency Yonhap said on Sunday. Citing an unnamed government source, the South Korean news agency said the suspension was likely to affect only major joint exercises, not more routine military training. North and South Korea failed to reach any concrete agreement during those

South Korea and the United States are expected to announce the suspension of “large-scale” military drills this week, with the provision that they would restart if North Korea failed to keep its promise to denuclearize, news agency Yonhap said on Sunday.

Citing an unnamed government source, the South Korean news agency said the suspension was likely to affect only major joint exercises, not more routine military training.

U.S. President Donald Trump surprised officials in Seoul and Washington when he pledged to end “war games” after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore last week.

Immediately after the announcement, U.S. forces in Korea said they had received no guidance on stopping any drills, and South Korean officials said they were trying to figure out which exercises Trump was referring to.

However, in a sign Seoul may be open to suspending drills, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday his government would need to be flexible when it came to applying military pressure on North Korea if it was sincere about denuclearization.

Moon said South Korea would carefully consider joint military drills with the United States and he asked his officials to cooperate with the United States on the issue, his office said in a statement at the time.

Yonhap also reported on Sunday that during military talks between the two Koreas on Thursday, South Korean officials asked their northern counterparts to relocate artillery 30 to 40 kilometres away from the heavily fortified military demarcation line that divides the two countries.

The South’s defence ministry denied it made such a request, Yonhap said.

The talks, the first in more than a decade, held in the border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone (DMZ), followed an inter-Korean summit in April at which leaders of the two Koreas agreed to defuse tensions and cease “all hostile acts”.

North and South Korea failed to reach any concrete agreement during those talks, officials said.

North Korea proposed to Seoul to disarm, on a trial basis, the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom, the only site in the DMZ where both countries’ soldiers stand almost face to face, the South’s presidential spokesman said on Friday.

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War, which ended in 1953 in an armistice that left the two Koreas technically still at war.

At a Senate hearing on Thursday, Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to South Korea, retired Admiral Harry Harris, backed the idea of a “pause” in major military exercises. He said his understanding was that any suspension would involve only major military exercises and that regular training of U.S. forces in South Korea would continue, although final decisions were up to the Department of Defense.

The U.S.-South Korean exercise calendar hits a high point every year with the Foal Eagle and Max Thunder drills, which both wrapped up last month.

The next major drill, Ulchi Freedom Guardian, is planned for the end of the summer.

Last year, 17,500 American and more than 50,000 South Korean troops participated in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills, although the exercise is mostly focused on computerized simulations rather than live field exercises that use weapons, tanks or aircraft.

Tuesday’s U.S.-North Korea summit was hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough, but it unleashed critical security concerns around Asia. At the conclusion of the U.S.-North Korea summit, the president announced a halt of what he called “provocative” and “expensive” war games — drills that the U.S. and South Korean armies have jointly conducted for years. Trump also indicated a desire to remove the 32,000 U.S. soldiers currently stationed in South Korea. America’s security alliance with South Korea is

Tuesday’s U.S.-North Korea summit was hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough, but it unleashed critical security concerns around Asia.

By questioning America’s military presence in the region, President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to give his Asian allies the cold shoulder while delivering a huge win to Pyongyang and Beijing.

At the conclusion of the U.S.-North Korea summit, the president announced a halt of what he called “provocative” and “expensive” war games — drills that the U.S. and South Korean armies have jointly conducted for years. Trump also indicated a desire to remove the 32,000 U.S. soldiers currently stationed in South Korea.

“I’d like to be able to bring them back home … That’s not part of the equation right now. At some point, I hope it will be, but not right now,” he said at a press conference.

Those comments sparked “a clear sense of disappointment” among Asia-watchers, according to Sam Roggeveen, a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute: “Trump made a major concession by pledging to stop joint military exercises,” but “got less from Kim Jong-un than Bill Clinton got from North Korea.”

America’s security alliance with South Korea is a crucial element of Washington’s greater Asia presence. That strategic relationship, according to U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, is the linchpin of peace in the Asia Pacific region and is widely considered critical to the safety of not just Seoul, but Tokyo, Taipei and others.

That’s why Trump’s Tuesday concessions are massively concerning to North Asia. They trigger immediate questions about the region’s own defense preparedness and the possibility of diminished ties with the world’s largest economy, according to Scott Seaman, Asia director at political consultancy Eurasia Group.

The first-ever meeting between sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders is set to happen in Singapore with potentially major consequences for Asia and the international community. Washington is hoping the bilateral discussions will be the first of many with Kim’s government, eventually culminating with the country surrendering its nuclear capabilities. That weapons program has become a threat to neighbors such as Seoul and Tokyo — and potentially even for the U.S. mainland. For decades, Pyongyang h

The first-ever meeting between sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders is set to happen in Singapore with potentially major consequences for Asia and the international community.

President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who arrived separately to the Southeast Asian city-state on Sunday, are due to meet face-to-face Tuesday morning at the Capella Hotel, a luxury hotel located on the resort island of Sentosa.

Washington is hoping the bilateral discussions will be the first of many with Kim’s government, eventually culminating with the country surrendering its nuclear capabilities. That weapons program has become a threat to neighbors such as Seoul and Tokyo — and potentially even for the U.S. mainland.

For decades, Pyongyang has sought to depict the world’s largest economy as an imperialist aggressor for its role in the Korean War while simultaneously blaming Washington for the dire economic situation that’s been exacerbated by international sanctions.

The isolated country has long said it’s justified in seeking nukes in light of the “extreme and direct nuclear threat” from the U.S., which it accuses of pushing for regime change.